There is increasing scientific consensus that climate change is the underlying cause of the prolonged dry and hot conditions that have increased the risk of extreme fire weather in Australia.1-3 With persistent droughts and record-breaking temperatures (2019 was Australia’s warmest and driest year on record, http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/aus/), it is unlikely that the extreme bushfires and smoke haze in Australia during the “Black Summer” (at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020) will be a one-off event. In recent years, other parts of the world, including California, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Amazon, have also been affected by catastrophic wildfires. We should be better prepared for more frequent and intense bushfire and wildfire events.3,4

This study estimated that bushfire smoke was responsible for 417 excess deaths, 1124 hospitalisations for cardiovascular problems and 2027 for respiratory problems, and 1305 presentations to emergency departments with asthma.